从文字训诂的角度考辨春节起源与年兽传说

On the Origin of the Spring Festival and the Legend of Monster Nian from the Perspective of Exegesis

春节是我国最大、最古老的一个民间节日,但其起源却并不为常人所共知,原因在于关于"过年"习俗的来源并无定论,而是存在许多不同版本的民间传说,其中又以"年"兽传说较为通行。从文字训诂的角度出发,并结合民俗学的原型,对"年"兽传说做出分析考辨,可以发现,"年"兽传说是一种保存了某些原始素材,但却是后来追加的起源解说。

Chinese New Year or the Spring Festival is the biggest and oldest folk holidays in China. However, the reason why its origin is not familiar to ordinary Chinese people is that the origin on the convention of celebrating the Spring Festival has not reached a consensus and there are several versions about these folk legends, among which Monster Nian is the most popular one. Combined with the prototype analysis of folklore, the paper makes a textual study of the legend of Monster Nian in terms of the exegesis, believing that the legend of Monster Nian is an explanation of supplemental origin based on some conserved raw materials.